To change text in Procreate, double-tap the text on your canvas to open the Text Entry Companion, then tap the font name to open the Edit Style panel. There you can change the font, style, size, spacing, opacity, alignment, and effects. To change the words themselves, tap into the text and type. This only works while the layer is still live text. Once it has been rasterized, Procreate treats it as pixels and the text controls are gone.

How to Edit Text You've Already Added

Procreate keeps typed text on its own text layer, so you can come back and revise it as long as you haven't flattened it. The current workflow:

1. Select the text layer in the Layers panel.
2. Double-tap the text on the canvas. The Text Entry Companion appears.
3. Type to change the wording, or tap the font name to open the Edit Style panel.
4. Adjust whatever you need.
5. Tap Done to apply your changes, or Cancel to discard them.

To close the panel, tap off the text or start working on another layer. You can reopen it the same way at any time.

Older Procreate versions worked slightly differently. You selected the text layer, tapped the text, or tapped the active layer again to open Layer Options and chose Edit Text. If you're on an older install and can't find the double-tap behavior, try that route.

What the Edit Style Panel Controls

The panel is split into four areas: Font, Style, Design, and Attributes. Knowing what lives where saves a lot of hunting.

Font and Style

The Font list shows every installed typeface, and each name is rendered in its own typeface as a preview. Tap one and it applies to the text immediately, so you can audition options quickly.

The Style section shows the variants available for the selected font, such as regular, italic, and bold. Some families also offer ultralight, thin, or black. Many fonts offer only one or two styles, so a missing weight usually means the font doesn't include it.

If the typeface you want isn't listed, import a font file from the Files app. Procreate Pocket accepts .otf, .ttf, and .ttc files, and imported fonts appear alphabetically in the list.

Design Sliders

The Design section has six sliders:

• Size changes the type size. The text box keeps its width and adjusts its height to fit.
• Kerning adjusts the space between a specific pair of letters. Put the cursor between the two letters to see the change.
• Tracking adjusts the spacing across every letter in a selection. Highlight a word or block first.
• Leading adjusts the space between lines, so it only matters with two or more lines.
• Baseline shifts the invisible line your text sits on inside the box.
• Opacity controls the transparency of the text.

Set kerning before tracking, because a tracking pass applied afterward spreads everything evenly from your corrected baseline.

Attributes

The Attributes section handles alignment (left, center, right, justified), underline, outline, orientation (horizontal or vertical), and an all-caps toggle. The caps toggle is non-destructive. Turn it off and your original capitalization returns, which is handy for comparing title treatments.

Changing Only Part of the Text

Many Edit Style changes apply to whatever you've highlighted. Select one word or a few letters and adjust size, tracking, or font, and only that selection changes. Kerning needs the cursor placed between two letters. Tracking needs a highlighted range. If a slider seems to do nothing, check your selection first.

Why You Can't Edit Your Text

The most common problem is that the text layer is no longer text. A live text layer shows an A icon as its thumbnail, while a raster layer shows its pixel contents. If you see pixels, no setting will bring the typing controls back, and you'll need to retype the text on a new text layer.

Ways text accidentally becomes raster:

• Rasterizing on purpose. This is required before you can paint on or reshape the letters, and it's a one-way trip for font changes.
• Copy and paste. In older versions of Procreate, copying and pasting a text layer rasterized it. Test this on your version before relying on it.
• Duplicating versus copying. Duplicating the layer from the Layers panel creates an identical live text layer, which is the safer way to repeat a style across several text elements.

Each text box lives on its own layer. If you want three lines styled identically but positioned independently, duplicate the layer twice rather than hunting for multiple boxes within one layer.

When the Edit Style Button Disappears

On some older Procreate 4.x setups, the Edit Style option vanished after an iPadOS update. The fix was in the iPad's Settings app: go to General > Keyboard and switch Shortcuts back on. Current versions use the Text Entry Companion, so this applies mostly to older installs, but it's worth checking if the text controls are missing on an older setup.

Reshaping Individual Letters

If you want custom lettering rather than a font as it ships, rasterize the layer and treat the letters as artwork. A typical hand-lettered workflow looks like this:

1. Type the word and pick the font you want. Settle the font first, since you can't change it afterward.
2. Duplicate the text layer and hide the copy as a live backup.
3. Rasterize the working layer.
4. Use the freehand selection tool to lasso individual letters and nudge, stretch, or rotate them.
5. Paint flourishes, curls, or swashes with a monoline brush to add a hand-drawn feel.

Keeping the hidden live copy matters. If a client changes a word after you've rasterized, you can retype from the backup instead of redrawing everything.

Practical Habits for Motion and Video Work

Procreate is an illustration tool, so many motion people use it for lettering concepts, style frames, and custom type treatments rather than finished titles. A few habits keep that work easy to use downstream:

• Keep text live as long as possible. Rasterize late, and save a version with live type before you do.
• Finalize the copy before you hand-letter. Rewriting is cheap on a text layer and expensive on painted letters.
• Use Procreate for the look, not the final animation text. If the title needs to be animated, tracked, or localized, rebuild or keep it as live type in After Effects, Cinema 4D, or Blender, using your Procreate frame as the design reference.
• Isolate the lettering on its own layer. Clean separation makes it easy to bring in as a matte, texture, or reference element.

Quick Troubleshooting

• Double-tapping does nothing: Select the text layer in the Layers panel first, then try again.
• A slider has no visible effect: Check your selection. Kerning needs a cursor between letters, and tracking needs highlighted text.
• Can't change the font: The layer was probably rasterized. Retype on a new text layer.
• Missing font weights: The font file likely doesn't include them. Pick another family or import a complete one.
• Can't edit after paste: Pasting may have rasterized the layer. Duplicate the layer instead.

Summary

Changing text in Procreate is simple while it stays live: double-tap, open Edit Style, and adjust the sliders and attributes. The one rule to remember is that rasterizing ends text editing, so rasterize last, and keep a hidden live copy for revisions. From there, the finished lettering frame can serve as a reference for motion work in your usual compositing pipeline.

To change text in Procreate, double-tap the text on your canvas to open the Text Entry Companion, then tap the font name to open the Edit Style panel. There you can change the font, style, size, spacing, opacity, alignment, and effects. To change the words themselves, tap into the text and type. This only works while the layer is still live text. Once it has been rasterized, Procreate treats it as pixels and the text controls are gone.

How to Edit Text You've Already Added

Procreate keeps typed text on its own text layer, so you can come back and revise it as long as you haven't flattened it. The current workflow:

1. Select the text layer in the Layers panel.
2. Double-tap the text on the canvas. The Text Entry Companion appears.
3. Type to change the wording, or tap the font name to open the Edit Style panel.
4. Adjust whatever you need.
5. Tap Done to apply your changes, or Cancel to discard them.

To close the panel, tap off the text or start working on another layer. You can reopen it the same way at any time.

Older Procreate versions worked slightly differently. You selected the text layer, tapped the text, or tapped the active layer again to open Layer Options and chose Edit Text. If you're on an older install and can't find the double-tap behavior, try that route.

What the Edit Style Panel Controls

The panel is split into four areas: Font, Style, Design, and Attributes. Knowing what lives where saves a lot of hunting.

Font and Style

The Font list shows every installed typeface, and each name is rendered in its own typeface as a preview. Tap one and it applies to the text immediately, so you can audition options quickly.

The Style section shows the variants available for the selected font, such as regular, italic, and bold. Some families also offer ultralight, thin, or black. Many fonts offer only one or two styles, so a missing weight usually means the font doesn't include it.

If the typeface you want isn't listed, import a font file from the Files app. Procreate Pocket accepts .otf, .ttf, and .ttc files, and imported fonts appear alphabetically in the list.

Design Sliders

The Design section has six sliders:

• Size changes the type size. The text box keeps its width and adjusts its height to fit.
• Kerning adjusts the space between a specific pair of letters. Put the cursor between the two letters to see the change.
• Tracking adjusts the spacing across every letter in a selection. Highlight a word or block first.
• Leading adjusts the space between lines, so it only matters with two or more lines.
• Baseline shifts the invisible line your text sits on inside the box.
• Opacity controls the transparency of the text.

Set kerning before tracking, because a tracking pass applied afterward spreads everything evenly from your corrected baseline.

Attributes

The Attributes section handles alignment (left, center, right, justified), underline, outline, orientation (horizontal or vertical), and an all-caps toggle. The caps toggle is non-destructive. Turn it off and your original capitalization returns, which is handy for comparing title treatments.

Changing Only Part of the Text

Many Edit Style changes apply to whatever you've highlighted. Select one word or a few letters and adjust size, tracking, or font, and only that selection changes. Kerning needs the cursor placed between two letters. Tracking needs a highlighted range. If a slider seems to do nothing, check your selection first.

Why You Can't Edit Your Text

The most common problem is that the text layer is no longer text. A live text layer shows an A icon as its thumbnail, while a raster layer shows its pixel contents. If you see pixels, no setting will bring the typing controls back, and you'll need to retype the text on a new text layer.

Ways text accidentally becomes raster:

• Rasterizing on purpose. This is required before you can paint on or reshape the letters, and it's a one-way trip for font changes.
• Copy and paste. In older versions of Procreate, copying and pasting a text layer rasterized it. Test this on your version before relying on it.
• Duplicating versus copying. Duplicating the layer from the Layers panel creates an identical live text layer, which is the safer way to repeat a style across several text elements.

Each text box lives on its own layer. If you want three lines styled identically but positioned independently, duplicate the layer twice rather than hunting for multiple boxes within one layer.

When the Edit Style Button Disappears

On some older Procreate 4.x setups, the Edit Style option vanished after an iPadOS update. The fix was in the iPad's Settings app: go to General > Keyboard and switch Shortcuts back on. Current versions use the Text Entry Companion, so this applies mostly to older installs, but it's worth checking if the text controls are missing on an older setup.

Reshaping Individual Letters

If you want custom lettering rather than a font as it ships, rasterize the layer and treat the letters as artwork. A typical hand-lettered workflow looks like this:

1. Type the word and pick the font you want. Settle the font first, since you can't change it afterward.
2. Duplicate the text layer and hide the copy as a live backup.
3. Rasterize the working layer.
4. Use the freehand selection tool to lasso individual letters and nudge, stretch, or rotate them.
5. Paint flourishes, curls, or swashes with a monoline brush to add a hand-drawn feel.

Keeping the hidden live copy matters. If a client changes a word after you've rasterized, you can retype from the backup instead of redrawing everything.

Practical Habits for Motion and Video Work

Procreate is an illustration tool, so many motion people use it for lettering concepts, style frames, and custom type treatments rather than finished titles. A few habits keep that work easy to use downstream:

• Keep text live as long as possible. Rasterize late, and save a version with live type before you do.
• Finalize the copy before you hand-letter. Rewriting is cheap on a text layer and expensive on painted letters.
• Use Procreate for the look, not the final animation text. If the title needs to be animated, tracked, or localized, rebuild or keep it as live type in After Effects, Cinema 4D, or Blender, using your Procreate frame as the design reference.
• Isolate the lettering on its own layer. Clean separation makes it easy to bring in as a matte, texture, or reference element.

Quick Troubleshooting

• Double-tapping does nothing: Select the text layer in the Layers panel first, then try again.
• A slider has no visible effect: Check your selection. Kerning needs a cursor between letters, and tracking needs highlighted text.
• Can't change the font: The layer was probably rasterized. Retype on a new text layer.
• Missing font weights: The font file likely doesn't include them. Pick another family or import a complete one.
• Can't edit after paste: Pasting may have rasterized the layer. Duplicate the layer instead.

Summary

Changing text in Procreate is simple while it stays live: double-tap, open Edit Style, and adjust the sliders and attributes. The one rule to remember is that rasterizing ends text editing, so rasterize last, and keep a hidden live copy for revisions. From there, the finished lettering frame can serve as a reference for motion work in your usual compositing pipeline.